Method and system for providing instant messaging service

ABSTRACT

Provided is a technique for transmitting and receiving a chat message through a message server. A user may transmit and receive a chat message to and from a friend of a first type and may receive a chat message from a friend of a second type, and receive various chat messages from a company supporting the friend of the second type.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Exemplary embodiments relate to a technique for transmitting andreceiving a chat message through a message server.

BACKGROUND ART

With a recent rise in distribution of mobile terminals, mobile terminalsare now considered an essential item for modern life. Since, in additionto a voice call service unique to each portable terminal, a variety ofdata transmission services and various additional services are beingmade available via mobile terminals, mobile terminals are beingtransformed into functional multimedia communication devices.

Also, with developments in communication technology, a function of amessenger program previously only available on a conventional personalcomputer (PC). Accordingly, there is a demand for a chatting methodthrough accessing a central message server.

Generally, an instant messaging service enables transmission andreception of chat messages between users. When a first user transmits achat message to a second user, the second user receives the chat messagefrom the first user through a message server. The second user alsocomposes a chat message and transmits the chat message to the first userthrough the message server.

As a number of instant messaging service users is increasing, companiesare attempting to earn profits through use of an instant messagingservice. For example, a company may display an advertisement on a chatmessage window or transmit an advertising message to users through theinstant messaging service.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Goals

An aspect of the present invention provides a method and system forproviding an instant messaging service that may classify friends into afirst type and a second type, and may enable a user to transmit andreceive a chat message to and from a friend of the first type and toreceive a chat message from a friend of the second type.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method and system forproviding an instant messaging service that may display a chat messagesent from a friend of the second type on a mobile terminal of a userabsent overlaying the chat message on a user input window.

Still another aspect of the present invention provides a method andsystem for providing an instant messaging service that may enable a userto be provided with additional information about a second type offriend, to receive, from the second type of friend, a chat messageincluding, for example, a video, coupon information, event information,advertising information, voting interface, and the like, to recommendthe second type of friend to another friend, and to receive somerecommended friends of second type based on ranking information.

Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a method and systemfor providing an instant messaging service that may enable a friend ofthe second type to select some of the registered friends of the friendof the second type automatically and to transmit a message to theselected friends.

Technical Solutions

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod of operating a mobile terminal for an instant messaging service,the method including storing a list of a plurality of friends of atleast one of a first type and a second type, receiving a chat messagefrom a message server through a wireless communication network,determining whether a type of a sender of the received chat message isthe first type or the second type, determining whether to display a userinput window on a chat window showing the received chat message, basedon the type of the sender of the received chat message, and displayingthe user input window on the chat window selectively based on thedetermined result.

The determining of whether the type of the sender of the received chatmessage is the first type or the second type may include determiningwhether the type of the sender of the received chat message is the firsttype or the second type based on an identifier included in informationassociated with the sender of the received chat message.

The method may further include displaying additional informationassociated with the sender of the received chat message on the chatwindow when the type of the sender of the received chat message is thesecond type, and the additional information associated with the sendermay include at least one of a link to a homepage, a picture, anintroductory text, a video, ranking information, and a number offriends, associated with the sender.

The method may further include recommending the sender of the receivedchat message to another user based on a user selection input when thetype of the sender is the second type.

The method may further include determining whether the sender of thereceived chat message is able to perform a virtual communication whenthe type of the sender is the second type, and the displaying of theuser input window on the chat window selectively may include displayingthe user input window on the chat window selectively based on thedetermined result as to whether the sender of the received chat messageis able to perform a virtual communication.

The method may further include displaying the list of the plurality offriends such that the friends of the first type and the friends of thesecond type are distinguished from one another.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of operating a mobile terminal for an instant messagingservice, the method including receiving a list of a plurality ofrecommended friends of at least one of a first type and a second typefrom a message server, receiving ranking information of the friends ofthe second type, and providing a friend recommendation window comprisingthe friends of the second type arranged based on the ranking informationof the friends of the second type.

The ranking information of the friends of the second type may begenerated based on at least one of an area of interest, a location, apopularity among friends, a number of friends, a number ofrecommendations, and bidding information, associated with apredetermined user.

The method may further include obtaining a list of registered friends ofthe predetermined user, obtaining ranking information of friends of thesecond type among the registered friends in the list, and displaying alist of the friends of the second type arranged based on the rankinginformation of the friends of the second type.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of operating a message server for an instant messagingservice, the method including storing a list of a plurality of friendsof at least one of a first type and a second type for each of aplurality of users, receiving a request for transmission of a chatmessage from a friend of the second type, selecting a recipient of thechat message among the users as registered friends of the friend of thesecond type based on at least one of location information, an area ofinterest, an access state, a number of accesses, a number of usedcoupons, a number of recommended friends, and a number of read messages,associated with the users, and transmitting the chat message to theselected recipient.

The chat message may include at least one of a video, couponinformation, event information, advertising information, and a votinginterface.

The method may further include charging for the transmission of the chatmessage in response to transmitting the chat message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of providing an instantmessaging service according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a network structure of a system forimplementing the method of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 through 5 are diagrams illustrating examples of chat windowsbeing displayed on a mobile terminal of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 6 through 10 are diagrams illustrating examples of windows beingfurther displayed on a mobile terminal of FIG. 2.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a message server forimplementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobile terminal forimplementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating another example of a mobile terminalfor implementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 14 through 20 are diagrams illustrating examples of windows of themobile terminal of FIG. 13.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a mobile terminal receiving a chatmessage in a method of providing an instant messaging service accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a mobile terminal receivingrecommended friends of a second type from a message server in a methodof providing an instant messaging service according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a message server transmitting a chatmessage sent from a friend of a second type in a method of providing aninstant messaging service according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of providing an instantmessaging service according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a user 100 may receive a chat message from friends,and may write a desired chat message and send the chat message to thefriends, through an instant messaging service.

In the present invention, friends may be classified into a first typeand a second type. A friend 110 of a first type may be a general friendof the same type as the user 100, and a friend 120 of a second type maybe an insubstantial virtual friend that is controlled by a company 130.

For example, the company 130 may include a product sales company, abusiness service providing company, an advertising company, a franchisecompany, an entertainment company, and the like. The friend 120 of thesecond type may send a chat message with a predetermined intention ofthe company 130 to the user 100. The friend 120 of the second type mayinclude a character for product sales, a customer service advisor forproviding a help desk support, a brand in franchise, an account of anentertainer, and the like, according to the purpose of the company 130.

The chat message sent from the friend 120 of the second type may includeat least one of a video, coupon information, event information,advertising information, and a voting interface.

FIG. 2 illustrates transmission and reception of a chat message betweenthe user 100, the friend 110 of the first type, and the company 130.

Here, the user 100 has a mobile terminal 220, and the friend 110 of thefirst type has a mobile terminal 230. The mobile terminals 220 and 230may have a chat application installed in each of the mobile terminals220 and 230 through data communication with a message server 200, sothat the mobile terminals 220 and 230 may be provided with a chatfunction of an instant message service. Through the chat application,the mobile terminals 220 and 230 may receive a chat message from themessage server 200, display a received chat message, and transmit a chatmessage to the message server 200.

The friend 110 of the first type may write and send a chat message tothe mobile terminal 220 through the message server 200 using the mobileterminal 230. Similarly, a company 240 may write and send a chat messageto the mobile terminal 220 through the message server 200 using acommunication device, for example, a desktop computer, a server system,a laptop computer, and the like. The chat message sent from the company240 may correspond to a chat message sent from a friend of the secondtype, that is, a user pre-registered by the message server 200.

The mobile terminal 220 may display a chat message received from afriend of the first type and a chat message received from a friend ofthe second type in distinguishable forms. Also, the mobile terminal 220may enable the user to respond to the chat message received from thefriend of the first type and to fail to respond to the chat message fromthe friend of the second type.

FIGS. 3 through 5 illustrate examples of chat windows being displayed onthe mobile terminal 220.

Referring to FIG. 3, the mobile terminal 220 may provide notification ofa chat message received from a friend through a pop-up window 310. Whena “view” button is executed as a user selection input in the pop-upwindow 310, the mobile terminal 220 may display the received chatmessage through a chat window. In the present invention, the mobileterminal 220 may display a chat message received from a friend of thefirst type and a chat message received from a friend of the second typein a distinguishable form from one another.

In a Case of the Chat Message being Received from the Friend of theFirst Type:

The mobile terminal 230 may display the received chat message through adisplay 400 of FIG. 4. On the display 400, the mobile terminal 230 maydisplay a chat window for a one-to-one chat or a group chat with generalfriends, and may display or overlay a user input window 410 for writinga chat message.

In a Case of the Chat Message being Received from the Friend of theSecond Type:

The mobile terminal 230 may display the received chat message through adisplay 500 of FIG. 5. On the display 500, the mobile terminal 230 maydisplay a chat window for a one-to-one chat with a friend of the secondtype, and may fail to overlay a user input window for writing a chatmessage.

The chat message received from the friend of the second type maycorrespond to a text message and a multimedia message. The chat messagemay include at least one of a video, coupon information, eventinformation, advertising information, and a voting interface. Forexample, a chat message 520 may include a content of an event “New Menuitem Frappuccino 2 for 1 Coupon”, and an image with a “download coupon”link.

On the display 500, the mobile terminal 230 may further displayadditional information associated with the friend of the second type,that is, a sender of the chat message. The mobile terminal 230 mayoverlay the additional information over a portion of the display 500, ormay provide the additional information on a next display as shown inFIG. 6. The additional information may include at least one of a link toa homepage of the sender, a picture of the sender, an introductory textof the sender, a video of the sender, ranking information of the sender,and a number of friends of the sender.

In a case in which the friend of the second type supports a virtualcommunication, a user input window may be overlaid on a chat window. Inthis instance, the friend of the second type may have a virtualcommunication using a virtual chatterbot. The chatterbot may provide aproper response to a question or a request by users.

When a user selection input 51 is generated on the display 500, themobile terminal 230 may provide a display 600 of FIG. 6. The display 600may include a pop-up window 610 to display additional informationassociated with the friend of the second type.

The pop-up window 610 may further include a homepage link button 620 fora link to a homepage of the friend of the second type, a chat room linkbutton 611, a coupon list button 612, an “apply” button 613 forparticipating in an event, and a recommend button 614 for recommendingthe friend of the second type to another friend. Also, the mobileterminal 230 may include a marketing area 630 for the friend of thesecond type in an empty area of the display 600 except the pop-up window610. The marketing area 630 may include at least one of a banner, avideo, an image, and text desired by the friend of the second type.

The mobile terminal 230 may further provide a display 700 of FIG. 7.When a user selection input is generated through the “download coupon”link in the chat message 520, the mobile terminal 230 may receive coupondata from the message server and may provide the display 700 based onthe received coupon data.

The display 700 may provide the coupon data provided from the friend ofthe second type. For example, the display 700 may include at least oneof a description 710 of the coupon, a “find store” button 720 forlocating a store at which the coupon can be used, a “use coupon” button730, detailed images 740, a detailed description 750, an “viewadvertisement” button 760, an “apply” button 770 for participating in anevent, barcode information 780 for the coupon.

The mobile terminal 230 may further provide a home screen of the friendof the second type. The home screen may be implemented as a home screen800 of FIG. 8. When the homepage link button 620 is executed in thepop-up window 610 of FIG. 6, the home screen 800 may be displayed. Forthis purpose, the mobile terminal may receive data for configuring thehome screen 800 from the message server.

The home screen 800 may include at least one of an area 810 in which abrief description of the friend of the second type and an “add friend”function is provided, a profile area 820, a marketing area 830 fordisplaying an advertisement, and an event area 840 for inserting eventinformation.

Also, the mobile terminal 230 may provide a “recommend friend” functionfor recommending the friend of the second type in the chat window withthe first type of friend. The “recommend friend” function may beimplemented as shown in FIG. 9.

Referring to FIG. 9, a chat window 900 showing a group chat may providea button 90 in a user input window. Through the button 90, the user maysend a general message, and also may attach, to the message, variousdata, for example, an image message, a voice message, a gift, atelephone number, and the like, and may send the message with the datato users of the group chat. The mobile terminal may provide a functionof attaching the data for recommending the friend of the second type tothe users of the group chat.

When the “recommend friend” function is executed, the mobile terminal230 may display, in the chat window 900, a message 910 to which data forrecommending the friend of the second type is attached.

The mobile terminal 230 may set information associated with the chatwindow with the friend of the second type. The information may be setthrough a display 1000 of FIG. 10.

Referring to FIG. 10, the display 1000 may provide a function of settingthe chat room between the user and the friend of the second type. Thesetting function may include at least one of a function 1010 of turninga multimedia message sharing option ON or OFF and a function 1020 ofturning a real-time event information sharing option ON or OFF, as wellas a basic function, for example, a function of setting a name of aone-to-one chat room, a function of turning a chat room alert option ONor OFF, and a function of removing all conversations.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a message server 1100for implementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11, the message server 1100 may interwork with adatabase 1110 to provide an instant messaging service between friends ofthe first type. Also, the message server 1100 may transmit a chatmessage sent from a friend of the second type, that is, the company 130to a user as a registered friend among friends of the second type.

The database 1110 may store a list of a plurality of friends of at leastone of the first type and the second type for each of a plurality ofusers.

The message server 1100 may transmit a chat message received from afriend of the first type or the second type to a recipient of the chatmessage based on the friend list stored in the database 1110.

The message server 1100 may include a company message receiving unit1101, a recipient selecting unit 1102, and a message transmitting unit1103.

The company message receiving unit 1101 may receive a chat messagetransmit request from a friend of the second type. The chat message maybe written directly by the friend of the second type, or may be writtenautomatically. The chat message may include at least one of a video,coupon information, event information, advertising information, and avoting interface.

The company message receiving unit 1101 may receive a chat messagetransmit request from a friend of the second type through interworkingwith an application programming interface (API) of a predeterminedcompany. Alternatively, the message server 1100 may issue an account toa company in advance. The company message receiving unit 1101 may allowlogging-in to the company account in response to data being receivedfrom the company, and when a log-in succeeds, may enable the company tomake a request to transmit a chat message.

The recipient selecting unit 1102 may obtain information about users asregistered friends among the friends of the second type from thedatabase 1110, and may analyze at least one of location information, aregion of interest, an access state, a number of accesses, a number ofused coupons, a number of friend recommendations, and a number of readmessages, among the obtained information. The recipient selecting unit1102 may select a recipient of a chat message requested to transmitamong the users as the registered friends of the friend of the secondtype based on the analysis result. The selected recipient may correspondto some registered friends limited by the friend of the second type orall the registered friends.

The message transmitting unit 1103 may transmit the chat message to therecipient selected by the recipient selecting unit 1102. The messagetransmitting unit 1103 may insert an identifier indicating the friend ofthe second type, for example, “at symbol” or @, into sender informationof the chat message, and may transmit the chat message having the senderinformation with the identifier to the recipient.

When the message transmitting unit 1103 receives the chat messagetransmit request from a friend of the first type, the messagetransmitting unit 1103 may transmit the requested chat message to therecipient automatically. The message transmitting unit 1103 may transmitthe chat message requested from the friend of the first type and thechat message requested from the friend of the second type, irrespectiveof a type of the friend. Alternatively, the chat message may betransmitted through different elements based on a type of the friend.

Also, when the message transmitting unit 1103 transmits the chat messagerequested to be transmitted from the friend of the second type, themessage transmitting unit 1103 may charge a fee for the transmission ofthe chat message. For example, the message transmitting unit 1103 maymatch a predetermined amount to the friend of the second type each timethe message transmitting unit 1103 transmits the chat message requestedto transmit from the friend of the second type, and may calculate anaccumulated fee. Alternatively, when a predetermined amount is pre-paidby the friend of the second type, the message transmitting unit 1103 maycompute, in real time, a number of chat message transmissions or aperiod of time during which chat message are transmitted.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobile terminal 1200for implementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Adescription of the mobile terminal 1200 receiving a chat message sentfrom a friend of the first type or the second type is provided. This maycorrespond to a portion of functions of a chat application installed inthe mobile terminal 1200.

Referring to FIG. 12, the mobile terminal 1200 may include a memory1201, a message receiving unit 1202, a sender type determining unit1203, and a chat window display unit 1204.

The memory 1201 may have a chat application installed in the memory1201, and may store a list of a plurality of friends of at least one ofthe first type and the second type in relation to the chat application.

The message receiving unit 1202 may receive a chat message from themessage server through the wireless communication network.

The sender type determining unit 1203 may determine whether a type of asender of the chat message received by the message receiving unit 1202is the first type or the second type. The sender type determining unit1203 may determine whether the type of the sender is the first type orthe second type based on sender information of the received chatmessage. The determination as to whether the type of the sender is thefirst type or the second type may be conducted by the sender typedetermining unit 1203 identifying a friend having the same identityinformation as the sender of the chat message from the memory 1201. Whenthe pre-defined identifier, “at symbol” or @, is inserted, by themessage server, into the sender information of the chat messagerequested to transmit from the friend of the second type, thedetermination may be conducted only by the sender type determining unit1203 to determine whether the pre-defined identifier is included in thesender information.

The chat window display unit 1204 may determine whether to overlay theuser input window on the chat window showing the chat message based onthe type of the sender of the chat message, and may overlay the userinput window on the chat window selectively, based on the determinedresult.

When the type of the sender of the chat message is the second type, thechat window display unit 1204 may determine not to overlay the userinput window on the chat window, and may display the chat window showingthe chat message between the user and the sender of the friend of thesecond type. Also, the chat display unit 1204 may further displayadditional information associated with the sender as the friend of thesecond type in the chat window.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating another example of a mobile terminal1300 for implementing a method of providing an instant messaging serviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Adescription of the mobile terminal 1300 managing recommended friends ofthe first type and the second type through interworking with the messageserver is provided. This may correspond to a portion of functions of achat application installed in the mobile terminal 1300.

The message server may transmit a list of friends of the first type orthe second type to the mobile terminal 1300. Also, the message servermay generate ranking information of the friends for each type based onat least one of a region of interest, a location, popularity, a numberof friends, a number of recommendations, and bidding information,associated with a predetermined user.

Referring to FIG. 13, the mobile terminal 1300 may include a listobtaining unit 1301, a friend arranging unit 1302, and a list displayunit 1303.

The list obtaining unit 1301 may receive a list of a plurality offriends of at least one of the first type and the second type.

The friend arranging unit 1302 may receive, from the message server, theranking information of the friends of the second type generated based onat least one of a region of interest, a location, popularity, a numberof friends, a number of recommendations, and bidding information,associated with the user. The friend arranging unit 1302 may receive theranking information of the friends of the second type from the messageserver, and the friend arranging unit 1302 may receive, from the messageserver, information associated with the user, for example, at least oneof a region of interest, a location, popularity, a number of friends, anumber of recommendations, and bidding information, and may generateranking information of the friends of the second type directly based onthe received information.

The list display unit 1303 may arrange the friends of the second type ina friend recommendation window based on the ranking information of thefriends of the second type, and may display the list based on thearrangement.

The mobile terminal 1300 may arrange the friends of the second type inthe list preferentially, even after registering the friends of thesecond type.

In this case, the mobile terminal 1300 may obtain a list of registeredfriends of a predetermined user from the message server or the memory,and obtain ranking information of friends of the second type among theregistered friends in the list. The mobile terminal 1300 may arrange thefriends of the second type on the display showing the list based on theranking information of the friends of the second type, and may displaythe list based on the arrangement.

FIGS. 14 through 20 are diagrams illustrating examples of windows of themobile terminal 1300 of FIG. 13.

As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the mobile terminal may provide a friendrecommendation window. In particular, as shown in FIG. 15, the mobileterminal may provide a friend recommendation window such that a friendof the first type and a friend of the second type are distinguished fromone another. In a directory including the friend of the first type andthe friend of the second type, the friend of the first type and thefriend of the second type may be distinguished from one another. Thefriend of the first type and the friend of the second type may be placedin different areas, or with different graphic effects.

In this case, the mobile terminal may receive a list of a plurality ofrecommended friends of at least one of a first type and a second typefrom the message server, and may obtain ranking information of thefriends of the second type among the recommended friends in the list.The mobile terminal may arrange the friends of the second type in thelist preferentially, based on the obtained ranking information.

Referring to FIG. 14, a display 1400 may receive the recommended friendsof the second type from the message server. The mobile terminal maydisplay the list of the friends of the second type in an area 1420, andmay rank a predetermined friend among the friends of the second type ormay display the predetermined friend at the top 1410 of the area 1420.

Referring to FIG. 15, a display 1500 may receive the recommended friendsof the first type and the second type from the message server. Themobile terminal may display the friends of the second type in an upperarea 1510 and may display the friends of the first type in a lower area1520, based on the list of recommended friends received from the messageserver. The mobile terminal may determine a type of the friend includedin the list and may determine where to display the friend.

Further, the user may register a friend of the second type desired bythe user as a friend through keyword input. In this case, the messageserver may provide a search function as shown in FIG. 16.

Referring to FIG. 16, the mobile terminal may transmit a keyword forlocating a friend of the second type to the message server, and themobile terminal may receive information associated with the friend ofthe second type received from the message server as a result of keywordsearch and may display the received information. On the keyword search,the message server may provide a predetermined identifier, “at symbol”or @, for quick search. The identifier may be used to identify thefriend of the second type, and the identifier may be included inidentity information of the friend of the second type directly or mayprovided as another element related to identity information.

The mobile terminal may provide the information associated with thefriend of the second type received from the message server on a display1610 as a result of keyword search. The display 1610 may include atleast one of an area 1611 for introducing the friend of the second type,an “add friend” button 1612 for requesting addition of the friend of thesecond type, and a marketing area 1613 for marketing of the friend ofthe second type.

The mobile terminal may request “add friend” for the friend of thesecond type selected by the user to the message server through thedisplays of FIGS. 14 and 15.

When “add friend” is completed, the mobile terminal may provide a pop-upwindow 1710 on a display 1700 of FIG. 17 to provide notification of “addfriend” completion.

Referring to FIG. 17, the pop-up window 1710 may provide a function ofreceiving an input of additional information associated with the user aswell as providing notification of “add friend” completion. For example,the additional information may include a region of interest. Theadditional information may be registered in the message server, and maybe referred to when the friend of the second type transmits the chatmessage to the user. The mobile terminal may provide a display 1800 forregistering a region of interest for the user in the message server. Thedisplay 1800 may include a function 1810 of searching for a desiredregion using a keyword or a function 1830 of selecting a desired regionamong a region list.

The mobile terminal may further provide a display for registering afriend.

Referring to FIG. 19, the mobile terminal may implement a display 1900for setting the friend management. The display 1900 may provide afunction 1910 of showing a full list of friends of the first type and afunction 1920 of showing a full list of friends of the second type,among friends of the user.

When the function 1920 of showing a full list of friends of the secondtype is executed, the mobile terminal may show the full list of friendsof the second type as shown in a display 2000 of FIG. 20. On the display2000, the mobile terminal may arrange the friends of the second type byname, by date registered, or by ranking information described in theforegoing.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a mobile terminal receiving a chatmessage in a method of providing an instant messaging service accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The method may beperformed by a chat program of the mobile terminal.

Referring to FIG. 21, in operation 2100, the mobile terminal may store,in a memory, a list of a plurality of friends of at least one of a firsttype and a second type.

In operation 2110, the mobile terminal may receive a chat message from amessage server through a wireless communication network.

In operation 2120, the mobile terminal may determine whether a type of asender of the received chat message is the second type.

In operation 2130, when the type of the sender is the second type, themobile terminal may determine not to overlay a user input window on achat window showing the chat message.

In operation 2140, when the type of the sender is not the second type,the mobile terminal may determine to overlay the user input window onthe chat window showing the chat message.

In operation 2150, the mobile terminal may display the user input windowon the chat window selectively, based on the result determined inoperation 2130 or 2140.

The determining of whether the type of the sender is the second type inoperation 2120 may be performed based on an identifier included ininformation associated with the sender of the chat message. For example,the determining of whether the type of the sender is the second type mayinclude determining whether a predetermined identifier, “at symbol” or@, is included in information associated with the sender of the chatmessage.

The mobile terminal may display, in the chat window or another window,additional information associated with the sender, for example, at leastone of a link to a homepage, a picture, an introductory text, a video,ranking information, and a number of friends. Also, the mobile terminalmay recommend the friend of the second to another user.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a mobile terminal receivingrecommended friends of a second type from a message server in a methodof providing an instant messaging service according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 22, in operation 2200, the mobile terminal mayreceive, from a message server, a list of a plurality of recommendedfriends of at least one of a first type and a second type.

In operation 2210, the mobile terminal may receive ranking informationof the friends of the second type generated based on at least one of aregion of interest, a location, popularity, a number of friends, anumber of recommendations, and bidding information, associated with apredetermined user.

In operation 2220, the mobile terminal may recommend the friends of thesecond type on a friend recommendation window preferentially, based onthe received ranking information. The mobile terminal may arrange thefriends of the second type at the top of the display based on theranking information, and may provide the friend recommendation windowincluding the arranged friends of the second type. The arrangement maybe implemented by placing all the friends of the second type at the topof the display or by arranging the friends of the second type based onthe ranking information.

In operation 2230, the mobile terminal may request the message server toadd a friend selected by the user in the friend recommendation window.

After the friend is added, the mobile terminal may still list thefriends of the second type in a list of registered friends of the userpreferentially. The mobile terminal may obtain, from the memory or themessage server, the list of registered friends of the user, and mayobtain ranking information of the friends of the second type among theregistered friends. The mobile terminal may rank the friends of thesecond type on the display showing the list based on the rankinginformation of the friends of the second type, or may display thefriends of the second type separately. Accordingly, in the list ofregistered friends of the user, the friends of the second type may belisted separately or displayed preferentially, to enable the user torecommend the friends of the second type easily.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a message server transmitting a chatmessage sent from a friend of a second type in a method of providing aninstant messaging service according to still another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 23, in operation 2300, the message server may store alist of a plurality of friends of at least one of a first type and asecond type for each of a plurality of users.

In operation 2310, the message server may receive a request fortransmission of a chat message from a friend of the second type.

The chat message requested to transmit from the friend of the secondtype may include at least one of a video, coupon information, eventinformation, advertising information, and a voting interface.

In operation 2320, the message server may determine whether the requestis transmitted from the friend of the second type.

In operation 2330, when the request is not transmitted from the friendof the second type, the message server may transmit the chat message toa recipient of the chat message.

In operation 2340, when the request is transmitted from the friend ofthe second type, the message server may select a recipient of the chatmessage among users as registered friends of the friend of the secondtype based on at least one of location information, an area of interest,an access state, a number of accesses, a number of used coupons, anumber of recommended friends, and a number of read messages, associatedwith the users.

In operation 2350, the message server may transmit the chat message tothe recipient selected in operation 2340.

In operation 2360, the message server may charge a fee for thetransmission of the chat message.

Although the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 23 shows that the messageserver processes a chat message requested to be transmitted from thefriend of the first type and a chat message requested to be transmittedfrom the friend of the second type at the same time, the presentinvention may be not limited thereto. For example, the message servermay be implemented independently based on a type of the friendrequesting transmission of the chat message. In this case, the messageserver may be implemented as shown in FIG. 11, and operations 2320 and2330 may be omitted.

The methods according to the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention the present invention may be recorded in computer-readablemedia including program instructions to implement various operationsembodied by a computer. The media may also include, alone or incombination with the program instructions, data files, data structures,and the like. The media and program instructions may be those speciallydesigned and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, orthey may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skillin the computer software arts.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, the present invention is not limited to the describedembodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in theart that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing fromthe principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which isdefined by the claims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for operating a terminal for aninstant messaging service, the system comprising: a database, thedatabase storing a list of friends including a friend of a first type ora friend of a second type for a user, wherein the friend of the firsttype is a friend of a same type as the user, and the friend of thesecond type is an insubstantial virtual friend; a message server, themessage server registering a friend of the user as the friend of thefirst type or the friend of the second type and transmitting a chatmessage received from the friend of the first type or from the friend ofthe second type to a recipient of the chat message based on the list offriends stored in the database, wherein the message server generatesranking information of the friends for the friend of the first type orfor the friend of the second type based on a region of interest, alocation, a popularity, a number of friends, a number ofrecommendations, and bidding information, associated with apredetermined user; a message receiving processor, the message receivingprocessor receiving a chat message transmit request and receiving thechat message from the message server through a communication network,wherein the chat message includes a video, a coupon, event information,advertising information, and a voting interface; a recipient selectingprocessor, the recipient selecting processor obtaining information ofusers as registered friends among the friends of the second type fromthe database, and analyzing location information, a region of interest,an access state, a number of accesses, a number of used coupons, anumber of friend recommendations, and a number of read messages, whereinthe recipient selecting processor selects a recipient of the chatmessage among the users as the registered friends of the friend of thesecond type based on the analysis; a message transmitting processor, themessage transmitting processor transmitting the chat message to therecipient selected by the recipient selecting processor, wherein themessage transmitting processor inserts an identifier indicating thefriend of the first type or the second type into the chat message; asender type determining processor, the sender type determining processordetermining whether a type of a sender of the received chat message isthe friend of the first type or the friend of the second type among theregistered friends of the user; a chat window display processor, thechat window display processor determining whether to overlay a userinput window on a chat window showing the chat message based on the typeof the sender of the chat message, and overlaying the user input windowon the chat window selectively based on the determined result; a friendarranging processor, the friend arranging processor receiving, from themessage server, the ranking information of the friends for the friend ofthe first type and the friend of the second type and informationassociated with the user including a region of interest, a location, apopularity, a number of friends, a number of recommendations, andbidding information, and re-generating the ranking information of thefriends for the friend of the first type and the friend of the secondtype based on the received information associated with the user; and alist display processor, the list display processor arranging the friendsin a friend recommendation window based on the ranking information anddisplaying the list based on the arrangement, wherein the list displayprocessor displays the coupon received from the friend of the secondtype for the user to select.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein themessage server recommends the sender of the received chat message toanother user based on a user selection input when the type of the senderis the second type.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the messagetransmitting processor charges a fee for the transmission of the chatmessage.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the type of the sender of thereceived chat message is determined based on the identifier included ininformation associated with the sender of the received chat message. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the chat window display processordisplays a chat window not overlaid with the user input window forwriting an answer message in response to the received chat message whenthe type of the sender of the received chat message is the second type.6. The system of claim 1, wherein the chat window display processordisplays a chat window overlaid with the user input window for writingan answer message in response to the received chat message when the typeof the sender of the received chat message is the second type and thefriend of the second type is not able to communicate with the answermessage received from the terminal.
 7. A method for operating a terminalfor an instant messaging service, the method comprising: storing a listof friends including a friend of a first type or a friend of a secondtype for a user in a database, wherein the friend of the first type is afriend of a same type as the user, and the friend of the second type isan insubstantial virtual friend; registering a friend of the user as thefriend of the first type or the friend of the second type andtransmitting a chat message received from the friend of the first typeor from the friend of the second type to a recipient of the chat messagebased on the list of friends stored in the database, wherein rankinginformation of the friends for the friend of the first type or for thefriend of the second type is generated based on a region of interest, alocation, a popularity, a number of friends, a number ofrecommendations, and bidding information, associated with apredetermined user; receiving a chat message transmit request andreceiving the chat message through a communication network, wherein thechat message includes a video, a coupon, event information, advertisinginformation, and a voting interface; obtaining information of users asregistered friends among the friends of the second type from thedatabase, and analyzing location information, a region of interest, anaccess state, a number of accesses, a number of used coupons, a numberof friend recommendations, and a number of read messages, wherein arecipient of the chat message is selected among the users as theregistered friends of the friend of the second type based on theanalysis; transmitting the chat message to the recipient, wherein anidentifier indicating the friend of the first type or the second type isinserted into the chat message; determining whether a type of a senderof the received chat message is the friend of the first type or thefriend of the second type among the registered friends of the user;determining whether to overlay a user input window on a chat windowshowing the chat message based on the type of the sender of the chatmessage, and overlaying the user input window on the chat windowselectively based on the determined result; receiving the rankinginformation of the friends for the friend of the first type and thefriend of the second type and information associated with the userincluding a region of interest, a location, a popularity, a number offriends, a number of recommendations, and bidding information, andre-generating the ranking information of the friends for the friend ofthe first type and the friend of the second type based on the receivedinformation associated with the user; and arranging the friends in afriend recommendation window based on the ranking information anddisplaying the list based on the arrangement, wherein the couponreceived from the friend of the second type is displayed for the user toselect.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: recommending thesender of the received chat message to another user based on a userselection input when the type of the sender is the second type.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: charging a fee for thetransmission of the chat message in response to transmitting the chatmessage.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein determining whether the typeof the sender of the received chat message is the friend of the firsttype or the friend of the second type comprises determining whether thetype of the sender of the received chat message is the first type or thesecond type based on the identifier included in information associatedwith the sender of the received chat message.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein a chat window is not overlaid with the user input window forwriting an answer message in response to the received chat message whenthe type of the sender of the received chat message is the second type.12. The method of claim 7, wherein a chat window is overlaid with theuser input window for writing an answer message in response to thereceived chat message when the type of the sender of the received chatmessage is the second type and the friend of the second type is not ableto communicate with the answer message received from the terminal.
 13. Anon-transitory computer readable recording medium storing computerreadable instructions which, when executed by a computer system, performa method for operating a terminal for an instant messaging service, themethod comprising: storing a list of friends including a friend of afirst type or a friend of a second type for a user in a database,wherein the friend of the first type is a friend of a same type as theuser, and the friend of the second type is an insubstantial virtualfriend; registering a friend of the user as the friend of the first typeor the friend of the second type and transmitting a chat messagereceived from the friend of the first type or from the friend of thesecond type to a recipient of the chat message based on the list offriends stored in the database, wherein ranking information of thefriends for the friend of the first type or for the friend of the secondtype is generated based on a region of interest, a location, apopularity, a number of friends, a number of recommendations, andbidding information, associated with a predetermined user; receiving achat message transmit request and receiving the chat message through acommunication network, wherein the chat message includes a video, acoupon, event information, advertising information, and a votinginterface; obtaining information of users as registered friends amongthe friends of the second type from the database, and analyzing locationinformation, a region of interest, an access state, a number ofaccesses, a number of used coupons, a number of friend recommendations,and a number of read messages, wherein a recipient of the chat messageis selected among the users as the registered friends of the friend ofthe second type based on the analysis; transmitting the chat message tothe recipient, wherein an identifier indicating the friend of the firsttype or the second type is inserted into the chat message; determiningwhether a type of a sender of the received chat message is the friend ofthe first type or the friend of the second type among the registeredfriends of the user; determining whether to overlay a user input windowon a chat window showing the chat message based on the type of thesender of the chat message, and overlaying the user input window on thechat window selectively based on the determined result; receiving theranking information of the friends for the friend of the first type andthe friend of the second type and information associated with the userincluding a region of interest, a location, a popularity, a number offriends, a number of recommendations, and bidding information, andre-generating the ranking information of the friends for the friend ofthe first type and the friend of the second type based on the receivedinformation associated with the user; and arranging the friends in afriend recommendation window based on the ranking information anddisplaying the list based on the arrangement, wherein the couponreceived from the friend of the second type is displayed for the user toselect.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable recording medium ofclaim 13, wherein the method further comprises: recommending the senderof the received chat message to another user based on a user selectioninput when the type of the sender is the second type.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer readable recording medium of claim 13, whereinthe method further comprises: charging a fee for the transmission of thechat message in response to transmitting the chat message.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer readable recording medium of claim 13, whereindetermining whether the type of the sender of the received chat messageis the friend of the first type or the friend of the second typecomprises determining whether the type of the sender of the receivedchat message is the first type or the second type based on theidentifier included in information associated with the sender of thereceived chat message.
 17. The non-transitory computer readablerecording medium of claim 13, wherein a chat window is not overlaid withthe user input window for writing an answer message in response to thereceived chat message when the type of the sender of the received chatmessage is the second type.
 18. The non-transitory computer readablerecording medium of claim 13, wherein a chat window is overlaid with theuser input window for writing an answer message in response to thereceived chat message when the type of the sender of the received chatmessage is the second type and the friend of the second type is not ableto communicate with the answer message received from the terminal.